Visio Nocturna Intra Somnium
by Raven-1313
Summary: Ed has had this dream many times before, but this time something is different. Is this just the Truth messing with him, or is it real? One-shot (Sorry for the bad summary)
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's note:**__This is my first Fan Fic yay! I have like a ton of ideas for fics goin through my head that I want to wright, but I never had time. This one just suddenly came to me while I was on the bus going to school. It took me like a week to write it all down in my notebook during class and stuff because I'm too busy to write it at any other time. Just my luck I had accidentally, well I'll have to tell you after the story, so read on :)_

**Warnings: Language (thanks Ed) and some hints to shounen-ai, mainly just kissing, but if you don't know/don't like go to chapter 2. Chapter 2 is pretty much the same story but it is edited so there is no shounen-ai. The second (edited) story is the same as the first except for near the end. You don't have to read both to understand the story, but you can if you really want to. If you are a kid or if you are really sensitive to language PM me and I can send you a version with no language (I have one already made up so that my Ma and Dad could read it :) )**

**Spoiler alert:** Everything Fullmetal Alchemist (Including the manga and both anime) due to the simple fact that I might let something slip and not know it.

I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or Edgar Allen Poe

_**Enjoy**_

* * *

**_A Dream Within A Dream_**

_Take this kiss upon the brow!_

_And, in parting from you now,_

_Thus much let me avow-_

_You are not wrong, who deem_

_That my days have been a dream;_

_Yet if hope has flown away_

_In a night, or in a day,_

_In a vision, or in none,_

_Is it therefore the less _gone_?_

All_ that we see or seam_

_ Is but a dream within a dream._

_I stand amid the roar_

_Of a surf-tormented shore,_

_And I hold within my hand_

_Grains of the golden sand-_

_How few! yet how they creep_

_Through my fingers to the deep,_

_While I weep- while I weep!_

_O God! can I not grasp_

_Them with a tighter clasp?_

_O God! can I not save_

One_ from the pitiless wave?_

_Is _all_ that we see or seem_

_But a dream within a dream?_

_-_Edgar Allan Poe

The darkness shifted and lifted to reveal a scene he had lived several times. It was his old house and it was burning. A wave of nausea hit Ed and it was not for the fear of losing everything, he already had, but it was for the things he would have to do in the future.

He still held the crude torch that started the growing fire, an object of his fears and guilt. He couldn't stand the weight of the small object in his bloodied hands any more so he tossed it into the growing inferno. A loud snap resounded and he looked up from the fire's heart to the tree standing tall beside the house. The amber flames had already started reaching out to try to find more food, and so the one whole side of the tree was a-flame.

His gaze shifted to the darkening sky. The smoke streaming from the house was darker than the already dark night sky. The smoke is even thick enough to block out the stars, the only pinpricks of hope he had.

He knew the road forward, the road to restoring what they had lost, would be a hard and dangerous one with blood on it. But he would persevere, he had to for his brother.

His eyes shifted into focus as something out-of-place moved in the billowing smoke. The black haze shifted and condensed into a long tube like object. One of the support beams fell with a loud bang, sending up giant embers that became the smoke creature's glowing eyes. The top end of the tube cracked in half below the eyes to reveal a giant maw filled with sharp, black teeth.

No matter how many times he had this dream the black serpent had never appeared. _Does this have something to do with getting Al's body back recently?_

The serpent sprouted ashy wings and dove toward the suit of armor standing beside me. The serpent grabbed Al with a clank of the metal joints and a blood-curdling scream from the boy's soul trapped inside.

"Al! Alphons! Hold on! Shit," I said as the black serpent swallowed Al whole. "How the hell am I supposed to fight this thing," I mumbled as I tried to look around the pier for a suitable weapon. Winry was sobbing even harder now than the slow trickle she had earlier. "Winry, I'm going to get Al back so there is no reason to cry."

She didn't have time to respond as a silver object was hurled right past her head. He looked back to see Al's helmet sitting on the ground as if Al had just set it down. The eye holes lacked their usual ghostly glow, and through them he could see something. The serpent let out a massive breath through its nose as if growing impatient and reminding them that it was still there. Ed backed up until he was beside the helmet. He grabbed the chunk of long hair, as he always had, and picked it off the ground.

Winry gave a shriek when she saw what was under the metal covering. It was Al's decapitated head. Al's gentle eyes were now clouded and wide open with fear. His hair was wet with the bright red of fresh blood. The nausea came back more demanding of its wants. Ed held back the bile that coated the back of his throat.

He couldn't breakdown and be vulnerable now. He had to repay this snake bastard for what he did to Al. Ed whipped his head around to face the black serpent again. The serpent gave a sinister, all-knowing smile that showed off his vicious, rotten teeth.

The smoke figure lunged and grabbed his automail right arm and raised him in the air. He instinctively clapped as an array that dissipates smoke came to mind. He slapped his free hand to the animal's face and he tried to transmute it, but the only response from the serpent was an irritated, impatient growl. With a swift jerk of its head, the serpent had Ed flying in the air above its head.

The serpent opened its mouth and Ed could see that he was going to drop into a long, deep void in the serpent's throat and not the raging fire. He wanted to close his eyes and pretend that he was already dead, but he couldn't. Something familiar was pulling at him from inside the void. There was a pinprick of light, it was smaller than the most distant star, inside the serpent's throat, but as he plunged deeper and deeper the spot of light grew. Then, when he was close enough, he finally could see through the rectangular opening to see the thing he recognized.

_The Truth_.

As his mind sputtered the words he realized that he wasn't falling anymore, but he hadn't hit ground either. He was floating through the dark void toward the glowing opening. Once Ed passed the threshold he suddenly stopped floating and fell to land flat on his face. He flipped into his back just in time to see the Gate close with a thud. He jumped to his feet and whipped around to confront the mist-figure that, on Ed's previous visits, had called himself The Truth.

"Where is Al?" asked Ed. In the infinitely empty space his voice strangely echoed back to him and he noticed the hints of confusion and fear in it. In response, the mist figure pointed at the Gate behind Ed. He turned around in time to watch as the Gate opens and the void beyond fills with dancing colors.

Once the image settled Ed was looking at a scene so clear it looked like he was seeing it through a window. The 'window' looked out onto one of the many ordinary streets in Central. Ed had already achieved getting Al his body back, and the physical person of his success was walking up the street, glancing at the venders on the way. Al had his back facing the Gate, but when a certain vendor caught his eye he turned more fully to the old seller.

Ed gasped as he caught sight of his brother's face, usually so full of gentle happiness, was now filled with sharp grief and sadness. The last time Ed had seen his brother look this defeated was when they were contemplating their bleak, empty future in front of a newly dug grave marked with a headstone with the words 'Trisha Elric' carved into its shiny surface. Ed's mind drifted back to the present and to the younger man in front of him, and that is when he noticed Al's clothes. Just like his younger self sitting at the gravesite, the older version of Al was wearing an expensive, all black suit showing the world of his recent loss of someone important.

"Who died?" asked Ed, "Was it Winry?" He knew that Al was more fond of the short-tempered, wrench-throwing girl than he was, but he chalked it up to having to deal with the brunt of her anger if he broke his automail. Ed realized that he wasn't going to get any straight answers from the Truth so he went back to watch his gloomy younger brother.

Al's head perked up as if he was a dog that heard his master call for him. Winry walked out of the doorway that Al was now staring at, and he went to her like a moth drawn to a faded flame. Winry's sorrowful expression matched Al's with only the slight difference of fresh tear tracks running down her hollow face. Her hair was messed and starting to fall out of her standard ponytail. She was dressed in a simple black dress that had sleeves that came well past her wrists. The neckline and skirt hem, that came to her knees, suggested a modesty that Winry normally didn't show. Al noticed that she was holding a white and navy-blue bundle that consisted of her normal city clothes.

He said "Where did you get that dress? It... it looks nice," his attempt at lightening the mood faltered as his voice cracked with the stress of speaking through his tortured throat. Ed noticed that even though his brother's voice was muffled by the window-Gate, it sounded as if he had screamed, cried, or even both for hours on end.

_What could have caused my usually calm and clear-headed brother this much pain? Who could have possibly been close enough to him to get him this worked up if they had died? Al was close to Roy's men, but just as friends, comrades. _

Ed's train of thought was cut off by Winry's soft reply, "The one shop owner gave me a discount on it and she let me use her back room to change." She sounded as if she was on the verge of tears again, and Al breathed in a deep, shaky breath.

"Winry, Im-Im sorry for the sudden news, and telling you like... telling you like... like this," Al finished at a loss for any other words. He was looking more and more defeated and exhausted by the minute, and the dark smudges under his eyes were not helping his appearance. Winry looked up into Al's eyes and she put on a faint smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"It's not your fault, Al," she said. "And it's not the fact that he did die, everyone has to die eventually. Its just-" She faltered, looking down so that her hair casted a shadow on her face, hiding her watery eyes. "It's the way he died. T-that man! How could he do that?!" She stated in the false anger that she used to hide her true feelings.

A thought struck Ed and he said, "Wait... If Winry is there then who died?" He turned around to look at the grinning mist. "Is it... Is it me?" At that the mist's grin only widened to show it's back teeth. "How... What did you do you..." His voice trailed off when the Truth started to speak.

"I did not do anything, little alchemist. I could not have planned for a more beautiful ending for the Hero of the People, the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. And to think it was at the hands of the Hero of Ishbal, the Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang. Such an epic title for the duo of brave, cunning protégés, Fullmetal and Flame. It fits together so nicely."

Ed cut off the Truth's ramble when he said, "S-So I'm...dead, and R-Roy... no, Roy wouldn't..." He couldn't form words or a normal thought over the lump in his throat. His heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces and his chest hurt from the effort of trying to hold in his accumulating tears. He grasped the front of his shirt.

He gasped as he felt a wet liquid through his gloves. That's too much to just be sweat... He pulled his hand away to look at it. He could feel his eyes widen with shock and fear. The liquid was blood and it was dripping out of a hole in his chest, and now that he thought about it there was also a metallic taste in his mouth.

_This means that the bastard Truth was right_, He thought.

"Oh, but he could, and he did, my little alchemist. He truly lives up to his heartless past," the smirking Truth said. Ed turned around to the gate trying to find an answer to his questions.

The window-Gate had grown dark without the scene with Al and Winry, but now it started to show definition of a street at night. He recognized the street as being the one in front of the apartment he and Al shared. It was nighttime and the windows in the apartment where flooded with light.

Suddenly the front door opened and a dark figure stepped out. Its himself! Ed was watching Ed pace up and down the street.

Earlier, he remembered having a fight with Al about an array and who they thought created it. The military was cleaning up the aftermath of a gang battle that had gotten out of hand, when a private found an old church with a giant transmutation circle on the door. The officer in charge, a Brigadier General, had called for one of the best alchemical theorists, the Fullmetal Alchemist. Usually alchemical theorists pull apart arrays to try to decipher what they were intended to do, but the Brigadier General just wanted to make sure it was safe for himself and his men. Once Ed had deemed it safe the Brigadier General demanded a full report on when it was created and why. Ed had made a sketch of the array and he had then taken it home to get Al's opinion of it.

Al had thought that it might have been some random kids drawing what they thought looked like an array. Ed recognized some of the symbols as being from the time right after the Xing civil war. They fought about it pointing out the flaws in each other's theories. Ed remembered a book that he had seen in the library by an author of that time with similar symbols, so he used the library trip as an excuse to get fresh air. Both him and Al knew the library wasn't open at that hour, but Al let him go.

Ed's memory caught up to what was happening in the window-Gate as Roy Mustang appeared at the end of the street. Ed remembered this, but the rest of his memory was missing, as if it had been snatched away.

In the window-Gate Roy spotted the pacing Ed-double, and he started walking towards Ed with a purpose. The Ed-double looked up at the sound of an extra set of footsteps on the sidewalk. When the Ed double realized who it was he stopped pacing and started to relax in the other man's warm stare. Once Roy reached Ed-double, he paused. As if both men were unconsciously mirroring the other one, both faces flickered with confusion as to why the other was here, but it quickly faded.

Roy hesitated, and then stepped closer to Ed-double, if by just a fraction, to close the small distance between them. Roy brought his hand up to tuck a stray piece of golden hair behind the owner's matching tanned ear. Ed-double leaned into the attention as Roy's hand rested on the side of Ed's head.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" said Ed-double. A smirk played on Roy's lips before he bent his head and kissed his lover. The real Ed, watching the scene play out in the window-Gate, smirked to himself.

"So that's what we look like," he said to the emptiness of the room. He had kissed Roy many times, hell he had even done more than just kiss him, but he has never had an outside view of it. With his long hair pulled back in a ponytail, his average size compared to Roy's freakishly tall stature, and at the angle that Ed was seeing himself at (from the back) he looked like the girl.

_I'll have to fix that. Maybe I should start wearing my thick-sole boots again._ His thoughts were cut off when the lovers in front of him broke apart for air.

It was strange being able to remember Roy's smell, his taste, the ridges and hills of his muscular body, and even the texture of his porcelain skin, but he was not able to hold his lover. In this strange place he wished for Roy's calming and reassuring touch. Roy could even bring him down from one of his infamous rants just with a brush of his hand on Ed's shoulder. Ed wished that he could just slip through the window-Gate and switch places with the Ed double.

As if Roy could read his mind, he smiled, but instead of the joy that usually dances in the midnight oblivion of Roy's eyes, there was something else that Ed could not identify.

"Edward," both blonds perked up at the sound of their names rolling off of their lover's tongue. Roy continued, "You are so predictable, and gullible."

_What?_

Roy's second hand came to rest on the opposite side of the first, but the Ed-double, like his twin, was too surprised to notice. Roy's grin grew into something feral, like a predator that had just cornered its prey, as he said, "Ever since I saw you on that day in Resembool I've only needed you to fit my wants. There is a plan that has been set into motion that will put me in the Führer's seat by next week. Once I am Führer no one will be able to tell me what to do or fire me. If they speak out I can just silence them. I have no need for you anymore!" And with that Roy's hands suddenly slid down Ed's head and onto his neck. "Its been fun, but now it is time for you to go."

Roy started squeezing the air and life out of the Ed-double, but for Ed it felt like Roy was squeezing his heart. _How could Roy do this? I knew he manipulated everything to fit what he wants, but_, "I-I..I thought he... he... he loves me. I-Isn't love true?" Ed's voice cut out as the fear and shock of what he was witnessing sank deep into his brain and heart. "R-Roy was lying the whole time?" The anger that the statement would have carried in the past was now gone, replaced with the growing dread that consumed him.

"Haha!" Ed turned around to the mist figure that was making the dark, gravely laughter. The mist continued, "Nothing is absolute, not even your precious love. And besides, you are a child, what could you possibly know about love," it drew out the last syllable as if the simple word and what it implied disgusted the Truth, "but you do know something of alchemy, my little alchemist."

Not wanting to listen to the Truth's mutterings, Ed turned back to the scene in the window-Gate just in time to see the door to the apartment complex start to open.

"Shit, no... Al..." Ed's voice trailed off. _Maybe it's another person from one of the other apartments_, but Ed's hopes diminished when he heard his younger brother's voice say, "Brother? Are you out here? Dinner is ready."

Al was still standing behind the shield of the half-open, outward swinging door so the door was between Al and the struggle.

_Hopefully Al will just go back inside...He doesn't need to see this, especially if I do die_. _Al trusts Roy and his men. What would he think if he found out they were lying? What would he do... Please don't see Al... Please..._ Ed painfully hoped, but it was to no avail.

"Ed?" Al asked as he closed the door. "General?" At Al's angle Mustang was probably blocking the view of Ed-double all together until he kicked his foot into view. Mustang suddenly realized that they had a visitor, so he threw Ed to the ground. "ED!" Al yelled with a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream that dripped with terror. Ed struggled on the ground, sputtering and gasping to try to get the life-giving air through his tortured throat.

Mustang let out a loud sigh as he reached for the case strapped on every military person's belt. Time seemed to slow as Roy un-holstered the gun and slowly brought it level with Ed's chest. Gold eyes looked back up to the shining metal object then to the man holding it. The eyes widened to their fullest extent as the realization sank in. Mustang's smirk curled and extended at the look in Ed's face.

"It's a shame I couldn't kill you with my own hands," _Hands I used to touch you. Hands you desired and relished the touch of. Hands that could calm you and even do the opposite. Hands I used to claim you as my own_. The unsaid words drifted in the air once Mustang paused for what felt like an eternity. He then began again, "Unfortunately there is no time for that now. This will have to do."

Ed looked like a deer caught in headlights, stuck in his place by uncertainty of what Roy was saying and the implications of his words. He should have gotten up and fought, or ran, but his legs were too weak with fear to support his body. A loud sound resounded and joined the rising cacophony of Al's boy-like screams. Ed slumped to the ground that was already covered in his blood. Al ran to his brother, his only family.

"S-Someone... Please... Please help... he is going to die!" Al shouted between sobs. "Please... don't die...no...don't die now b-brother...you can't... you can't... not after..." Al's weak voice trailed off as a violent sob took over his whole body and made him shake. The sobs completely took his ability to get a decent breath to talk so he scanned the street, looking for someone who could help.

_Anyone that can help._

His search was futile for there was nobody there. Even Mustang had slipped away in the confusion. A hacking sound came from the body lying beside Al. Al's eyes lit up with the prospect of slight hope.

He rolled over his brother's limp form so that he could see Ed's face. There was a hole in the thin shirt and a matching hole in the muscular chest beneath it. Ed's lips moved as if to form 'Al' but he couldn't speak. His body jerked violently with another hacking cough that brought up a thick red fluid that Ed spit out onto the ground.

"Al" Ed's weak and raspy voice caught Al's attention. Al's sobs suddenly diminished in volume and intensity as he leaned closer to Ed's head as he strained to hear his dying brother. "I'm sorry, Al. I love him. I was... so stupid... I didn't see... see it coming... I'm sorry... I love... him... sorry...Roy..." Ed's eyes faded as they drained of life.

Al checked for Ed's pulse, but judging from the growing grimace on his face, he couldn't find one. A tear dripped from Al's half closed eyes and landed on Ed's paling face. Al leaned back to get one last look at his brother. Al closed Ed's glazed over eyes. The image in the window-Gate flickered and faltered as the stone doors closed with a bang.

Ed couldn't move, the shock of what happened in front, no _to_ him, glued all of his joints in place. His knees suddenly gave out and he collapsed onto the floor. The movement woke him from his daze.

"R-Roy... killed me? I'm dead?" he squeaked past the lump forming in his throat. His vision blurred at the start of tears. "Al... Al, I'm sorry." The tears turned into sobs as he tried to talk through shuddering breaths and clenched teeth. "B-B-Bastard... Bastard General...Why... Why the Hell d-did you do that? I love you... I loved you..."

'_Royyyyyyyyyy!' _

He sat up abruptly. He was sitting on a bed, with covers pooling around his waist. _It... It was just... a dream?_ He was drenched in sweat and his breaths were rapid. _Is the Truth just messing with me and THIS is the dream?Where am I?_

The room at first glance looked bland, like the many rooms he and Al had stayed in during their journey, but the few pieces of furniture looked comfortable and elegant in a simple way. No hotel he could afford would have any furniture that could be described in any way as 'elegant'. He turned his head to look at a giant fireplace, that had been used recently, that made him feel like he had seen it before. Then the memory hit him. He was in Roy's room. _Our room_.

This was no dream, it is real. Roy had become Führer a few weeks ago and Ed had moved in with his lover shortly after. If anyone had any problems with the unusual relationship no one dared to say anything to his face.

"Ed?" Roy's voice came from beside him, and it sounded heavy as if its owner had just woken up from a deep sleep. "Ed what's wrong?" the grogginess in Roy's voice giving way to worry. Ed turned and his residual fears drifted away when he saw the genuine worry on his lover's porcelain face. Roy was propped up on his elbows so he could get a better look at Ed. Roy had noticed the dread in Ed's face before Ed could dismiss it. "Are you alright?" Roy asked in a calm voice.

The corners of Ed's mouth perked up into a slight smile as he said, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just..." he trailed off as he wiped the remaining tears from his eyes and tried to think of what to say. "It was just a bad dream. Ah!" Roy pulled on Ed's arm so that they were both lying on their backs again. Ed snuggled into Roy's warmth, using Roy's upper arm as a pillow.

"Tell me about it?" Roy's voice formed a tentative question.

"Mmm. Morning. My job as a State Alchemist too exhausting on a normal day, let alone with no sleep."

Ed could hear the grimace of sympathy in Roy's voice as he said, "Fair enough."

Roy kissed Ed's forehead as Ed continued, "And besides, my boss is a total jerk who will kill me if I come in late." Ed could feel the lips on his forehead turn into a smile as he felt himself starting to go back to sleep.

"You mumbled something in you sleep, saying something about me being a bastard. I don't think you have called me 'bastard' anything for a long time," Roy said.

"You deserved it," was Ed's simple, sleep-filled reply. The last thing that Ed heard before the oblivion of sleep took him was Roy's deep, soft chuckle on his forehead.

* * *

**_After_********_note:_**_Yay! hope you liked it! the thing I messed up (Make sure you read the story first because __**Spoiler alert**__**) **__when I was typing the story and transferring it I realized that I had accidentally had Ed dying from the wound when he had felt it (when he put his hand on his shirt), but later in the story Roy had killed Ed by breaking his neck, so I had to fix that. Ops :) oh well. I think the way Roy did it now is a little better than what I had written._


	2. Chapter 2: edited version

_**Author's note: **__Yay my first Fan Fic:) Enjoy! (Read previous author's note) This is the non shounen-ai version_

**Warnings: **language (Thanks Ed)

**Spoiler Alert:**Everything Fullmetal (including the manga and both animes) due to the fact that I don't know if I accidentally let something slip without knowing it.

I do not own Fullmetal alchemist or Edgar Allen Poe

* * *

**_A Dream Within A Dream_**

_Take this kiss upon the brow!_

_And, in parting from you now,_

_Thus much let me avow-_

_You are not wrong, who deem_

_That my days have been a dream;_

_Yet if hope has flown away_

_In a night, or in a day,_

_In a vision, or in none,_

_Is it therefore the less _gone_?_

All_ that we see or seam_

_ Is but a dream within a dream._

_I stand amid the roar_

_Of a surf-tormented shore,_

_And I hold within my hand_

_Grains of the golden sand-_

_How few! yet how they creep_

_Through my fingers to the deep,_

_While I weep- while I weep!_

_O God! can I not grasp_

_Them with a tighter clasp?_

_O God! can I not save_

One_ from the pitiless wave?_

_Is _all_ that we see or seem_

_But a dream within a dream?_

_-_Edgar Allan Poe

The darkness shifted and lifted to reveal a scene he had lived several times. It was his old house and it was burning. A wave of nausea hit Ed and it was not for the fear of losing everything, he already had, but it was for the things he would have to do in the future.

He still held the crude torch that started the growing fire, an object of his fears and guilt. He couldn't stand the weight of the small object in his bloodied hands any more so he tossed it into the growing inferno. A loud snap resounded and he looked up from the fire's heart to the tree standing tall beside the house. The amber flames had already started reaching out to try to find more food, and so the one whole side of the tree was a-flame.

His gaze shifted to the darkening sky. The smoke streaming from the house was darker than the already dark night sky. The smoke is even thick enough to block out the stars, the only pinpricks of hope he had.

He knew the road forward, the road to restoring what they had lost, would be a hard and dangerous one with blood on it. But he would persevere, he had to for his brother.

His eyes shifted into focus as something out-of-place moved in the billowing smoke. The black haze shifted and condensed into a long tube like object. One of the support beams fell with a loud bang, sending up giant embers that became the smoke creature's glowing eyes. The top end of the tube cracked in half below the eyes to reveal a giant maw filled with sharp, black teeth.

No matter how many times he had this dream the black serpent had never appeared. _Does this have something to do with getting Al's body back recently?_

The serpent sprouted ashy wings and dove toward the suit of armor standing beside me. The serpent grabbed Al with a clank of the metal joints and a blood-curdling scream from the boy's soul trapped inside.

"Al! Alphons! Hold on! Shit," I said as the black serpent swallowed Al whole. "How the hell am I supposed to fight this thing," I mumbled as I tried to look around the pier for a suitable weapon. Winry was sobbing even harder now than the slow trickle she had earlier. "Winry, I'm going to get Al back so there is no reason to cry."

She didn't have time to respond as a silver object was hurled right past her head. He looked back to see Al's helmet sitting on the ground as if Al had just set it down. The eye holes lacked their usual ghostly glow, and through them he could see something. The serpent let out a massive breath through its nose as if growing impatient and reminding them that it was still there. Ed backed up until he was beside the helmet. He grabbed the chunk of long hair, as he always had, and picked it off the ground.

Winry gave a shriek when she saw what was under the metal covering. It was Al's decapitated head. Al's gentle eyes were now clouded and wide open with fear. His hair was wet with the bright red of fresh blood. The nausea came back more demanding of its wants. Ed held back the bile that coated the back of his throat.

He couldn't breakdown and be vulnerable now. He had to repay this snake bastard for what he did to Al. Ed whipped his head around to face the black serpent again. The serpent gave a sinister, all-knowing smile that showed off his vicious, rotten teeth.

The smoke figure lunged and grabbed his automail right arm and raised him in the air. He instinctively clapped as an array that dissipates smoke came to mind. He slapped his free hand to the animal's face and he tried to transmute it, but the only response from the serpent was an irritated, impatient growl. With a swift jerk of its head, the serpent had Ed flying in the air above its head.

The serpent opened its mouth and Ed could see that he was going to drop into a long, deep void in the serpent's throat and not the raging fire. He wanted to close his eyes and pretend that he was already dead, but he couldn't. Something familiar was pulling at him from inside the void. There was a pinprick of light, it was smaller than the most distant star, inside the serpent's throat, but as he plunged deeper and deeper the spot of light grew. Then, when he was close enough, he finally could see through the rectangular opening to see the thing he recognized.

_The Truth_.

As his mind sputtered the words he realized that he wasn't falling anymore, but he hadn't hit ground either. He was floating through the dark void toward the glowing opening. Once Ed passed the threshold he suddenly stopped floating and fell to land flat on his face. He flipped into his back just in time to see the Gate close with a thud. He jumped to his feet and whipped around to confront the mist-figure that, on Ed's previous visits, had called himself The Truth.

"Where is Al?" asked Ed. In the infinitely empty space his voice strangely echoed back to him and he noticed the hints of confusion and fear in it. In response, the mist figure pointed at the Gate behind Ed. He turned around in time to watch as the Gate opens and the void beyond fills with dancing colors.

Once the image settled Ed was looking at a scene so clear it looked like he was seeing it through a window. The 'window' looked out onto one of the many ordinary streets in Central. Ed had already achieved getting Al his body back, and the physical person of his success was walking up the street, glancing at the venders on the way. Al had his back facing the Gate, but when a certain vendor caught his eye he turned more fully to the old seller.

Ed gasped as he caught sight of his brother's face, usually so full of gentle happiness, was now filled with sharp grief and sadness. The last time Ed had seen his brother look this defeated was when they were contemplating their bleak, empty future in front of a newly dug grave marked with a headstone with the words 'Trisha Elric' carved into its shiny surface. Ed's mind drifted back to the present and to the younger man in front of him, and that is when he noticed Al's clothes. Just like his younger self sitting at the gravesite, the older version of Al was wearing an expensive, all black suit showing the world of his recent loss of someone important.

"Who died?" asked Ed, "Was it Winry?" He knew that Al was more fond of the short-tempered, wrench-throwing girl than he himself was, but he chalked it up to having to deal with the brunt of her anger if he broke his automail. Ed realized that he wasn't going to get any straight answers from the Truth so he went back to watch his gloomy younger brother.

Al's head perked up as if he was a dog that heard his master call for him. Winry walked out of the doorway that Al was now staring at, and he went to her like a moth drawn to a faded flame. Winry's sorrowful expression matched Al's with only the slight difference of fresh tear tracks running down her hollow face. Her hair was messed and starting to fall out of her standard ponytail. She was dressed in a simple black dress that had sleeves that came well past her wrists. The neckline and skirt hem, that came to her knees, suggested a modesty that Winry normally didn't show. Al noticed that she was holding a white and navy-blue bundle that consisted of her normal city clothes.

He said "Where did you get that dress? It... it looks nice," his attempt at lightening the mood faltered as his voice cracked with the stress of speaking through his tortured throat. Ed noticed that even though his brother's voice was muffled by the window-Gate, it sounded as if he had screamed, cried, or even both for hours on end.

_What could have caused my usually calm and clear-headed brother this much pain? Who could have possibly been close enough to him to get him this worked up if they had died? Al was close to Mustang's men, but just as friends, comrades. _

Ed's train of thought was cut off by Winry's soft reply, "The one shop owner gave me a discount on it and she let me use her back room to change." She sounded as if she was on the verge of tears again, and Al breathed in a deep, shaky breath.

"Winry, Im-Im sorry for the sudden news, and telling you like... telling you like... like this," Al finished at a loss for any other words. He was looking more and more defeated and exhausted by the minute, and the dark smudges under his eyes were not helping his appearance. Winry looked up into Al's eyes and she put on a faint smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"It's not your fault, Al," she said. "And it's not the fact that he did die, everyone has to die eventually. Its just-" She faltered, looking down so that her hair casted a shadow on her face, hiding her watery eyes. "It's the way he died. T-that man! How could he do that?!" She stated in the false anger that she used to hide her true feelings.

A thought struck Ed and he said, "Wait... If Winry is there then who died?" He turned around to look at the grinning mist. "Is it... Is it me?" At that the mist's grin only widened to show it's back teeth. "How... What did you do you..." His voice trailed off when the Truth started to speak.

"I did not do anything, little alchemist. I could not have planned for a more beautiful ending for the Hero of the People, the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. And to think it was at the hands of the Hero of Ishbal, the Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang. Such an epic title for the duo of brave, cunning proteges, Fullmetal and Flame. It fits together so nicely."

Ed cut off the Truth's ramble when he said, "S-So I'm...dead, and M-Mustang... no, Mustang wouldn't..." He couldn't form words or a normal thought over the lump in his throat. His heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces and his chest hurt from the effort of trying to hold in his accumulating tears. He grasped the front of his shirt.

He gasped as he felt a wet liquid through his gloves. Thats too much to just be sweat... He pulled his hand away to look at it. He could feel his eyes widen with shock and fear. The liquid was blood and it was dripping out of a hole in his chest, and now that he thought about it there was also a metallic taste in his mouth.

_This means that the bastard Truth was right_, He thought.

"Oh, but he could, and he did, my little alchemist. He truly lives up to his heartless past," the smirking Truth said. Ed turned around to the gate trying to find an answer to his questions.

The window-Gate had grown dark without the scene with Al and Winry, but now it started to show definition of a street at night. He recognised the street as being the one in front of the apartment he and Al shared. It was nighttime and the windows in the apartment were flooded with light.

Suddenly the front door opened and a dark figure stepped out. Its himself! Ed was watching Ed pace up and down the street.

Earlier, he remembered having a fight with Al about an array and who they thought created it. The military was cleaning up the aftermath of a gang battle that had gotten out of hand, when a private found an old church with a giant transmutation circle on the door. The officer in charge, a Brigadier General, had called for one of the best alchemical theorists, the Fullmetal Alchemist. Usually alchemical theorists pull apart arrays to try and decipher what they were intended to do, but the Brigadier General just wanted to make sure it was safe for himself and his men. Once Ed had deemed it safe the Brigadier General demanded a full report on when it was created and why. Ed had made a sketch of the array and he had then taken it home to get Al's opinion of it.

Al had thought that it might have been some random kids drawing what they thought looked like an array. Ed recognised some of the symbols as being from the time right after the Xing civil war. They fought about it pointing out the flaws in each other's theories. Ed remembered a book that he had seen in the library by an author of that time with similar symbols, so he used the library trip as an excuse to get fresh air. Both him and Al knew the library wasn't open at that hour, but Al let him go.

Ed's memory caught up to what was happening in the window-Gate as Roy Mustang appeared at the end of the street. Ed remembered this, but the rest of his memory was missing, as if it had been snatched away.

In the window-Gate Mustang spotted the pacing Ed-double, and he started walking towards Ed with a purpose. The Ed-double looked up at the sound of an extra set of footsteps on the sidewalk. When the Ed double realised who it was he stopped pacing. Once Mustang reached Ed-double, he paused. As if both men were unconsciously mirroring the other one, both faces flickered with confusion as to why the other was here, but it quickly faded.

Ed crossed his arms and took his usual 'don't mess with me' stance that he used when he had to confront his annoying superior officer. "What the hell do you want? I'm working on the report, so don't tell me I'm slacking." Ed glared at the older man until he answered. The real Ed, watching the scene play out in the window-Gate, smirked to himself at Mustang's obvious discomfort under the younger man's stare.

Mustang let out a sigh before he said, "Of course, Fullmetal. I wouldn't doubt your word. If you get a lead that you think is interesting you usually pursue it until it ends, whether it ends at a dead end or at a new lead. It is a shame that such a brilliant and persistent mind is so predictable and gullible." He smiled, but instead of the all-knowing look that usually dances in the midnight oblivion of Mustang's eyes, there was something else that Ed could not identify.

_What?_

Mustang suddenly lunged at the confused Ed. Ed didn't act fast enough before Mustang latched onto Ed's neck with both hands. Mustang's grin grew into something feral, like a predator that had just cornered its prey, as he said, "Ever since I saw you on that day in Resembool I've only needed you to fit my wants. There is a plan that has been set into motion that will put me in the Führer's seat by next week. Once I am Führer no one will be able to tell me what to do or fire me. If they speak out I can just silence them. I have no need for you anymore!" And with that Roy's hands suddenly twitched before Mustang tightened his grip. "Its been fun, but now it is time for you to go."

Mustang started squeezing the air and life out of the Ed-double, but for Ed it felt like Mustang was squeezing his heart. _How could he do this? I knew he manipulated everything to fit what he wants, but_, "I-I..I thought he... he... he trusts me. I trust... trusted him. I-Isn't trust supposed to be true?" Ed's voice cut out out as the fear and shock of what he was witnessing sank deep into his brain and heart. "M-Mustang was lying the whole time?" The anger that the statement would have carried in the past was now gone, replaced with the growing dread that consumed him.

"Haha!" Ed turned around to the mist figure that was making the dark, gravely laughter. The mist continued, "Nothing is absolute, not even your precious trust. And besides, you are a child, what could you possibly know about trust," it drew out the last syllable as if the simple word and what it implied disgusted the Truth, "but you do know something of alchemy, my little alchemist."

Not wanting to listen to the Truth's mutterings, Ed turned back to the scene in the window-Gate just in time to see the door to the apartment complex start to open.

"Shit, no... Al..." Ed's voice trailed off. _Maybe its another person from one of the other apartments_, but Ed's hopes diminished when he heard his younger brother's voice say, "Brother? Are you out here? Dinner is ready."

Al was still standing behind the shield of the half-open, outward swinging door so the door was between Al and the struggle.

_Hopefully Al will just go back inside...He doesn't need to see this, especially if I do die_. _Al trusts Mustang and his men. What would he think if he found out they were lying? What would he do... Please don't see Al... Please..._ Ed painfully hoped, but it was to no avail.

"Ed?" Al asked as he closed the door. "General?" At Al's angle Mustang was probably blocking the view of Ed-double all together until he kicked his foot into view. Mustang suddenly realised that they had a visitor, so he threw Ed to the ground. "ED!" Al yelled with a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream that dripped with terror. Ed struggled on the ground, sputtering and gasping to try to get the life-giving air through his tortured throat.

Mustang let out a loud sigh as he reached for the case strapped on every military person's belt. Time seemed to slow as Mustang un-holstered the gun and slowly brought it level with Ed's chest. Gold eyes looked back up to the shining metal object then to the man holding it. The eyes widened to their fullest extent as the realization sank in. Mustang's smirk curled and extended at the look in Ed's face.

"It's a shame I couldn't kill you with my own hands," _Hands that showed you your future. Hands that fought alongside you. Hands that I tricked you with._ The unsaid words drifted in the air once Mustang paused for what felt like an eternity. He then began again, "Unfortunately there is no time for that now. This will have to do."

Ed looked like a deer caught in headlights, stuck in his place by uncertainty of what Mustang was saying and the implications of his words. He should have gotten up and fought, or ran, but his legs were too weak with fear to support his body. A loud sound resounded and joined the rising cacophony of Al's boy-like screams. Ed slumped onto ground that was already covered in his blood. Al ran to his brother, his only family.

"S-Someone... Please... Please help... he is going to die!" Al shouted between sobs. "Please... don't die...no...don't die now b-brother...you can't... you can't... not after..." Al's weak voice trailed off as a violent sob took over his whole body and made him shake. The sobs completely took his ability to get a decent breath to talk so he scanned the street, looking for someone who could help.

_Anyone that can help._

His search was futile for there was nobody there. Even Mustang had slipped away in the confusion. A hacking sound came from the body lying beside Al. Al's eyes lit up with the prospect of slight hope.

He rolled over his brother's limp form so that he could see Ed's face. There was a hole in the thin shirt and a matching hole in the muscular chest beneath it. Ed's lips moved as if to form 'Al' but he couldn't speak. His body jerked violently with another hacking cough that brought up a thick red fluid that Ed spit out onto the ground.

"Al" Ed's weak and raspy voice caught Al's attention. Al's sobs suddenly diminished in volume and intensity as he leaned closer to Ed's head as he strained to hear his dying brother. "I'm sorry, Al. I trust him. I was... so stupid... I didn't see... see it coming... I'm sorry... I trust...trusted... him... sorry...Al..." Ed's eyes faded as they drained of life.

Al checked for Ed's pulse, but judging from the growing grimace on his face, he couldn't find one. A tear dripped from Al's half closed eyes and landed on Ed's paling face. Al leaned back to get one last look at his brother. Al closed Ed's glazed over eyes. The image in the window-Gate flickered and faltered as the stone doors closed with a bang.

Ed couldn't move, the shock of what happened in front, no _to_ him, glued all of his joints in place. His knees suddenly gave out and he collapsed onto the floor. The movement woke him from his daze.

"M-Mustang... killed me? I'm dead?" he squeaked past the lump forming in his throat. His vision blurred at the start of tears. "Al... Al, I'm sorry." The tears turned into sobs as he tried to talk through shuddering breaths and clenched teeth. "B-B-Bastard... Bastard General...Why... Why the Hell d-did you do that? I was loyal... I trust you... I trusted you..."

'_Mustanggg!' _

He sat up abruptly. He was sitting on a bed, with covers pooling around his waist. _It... It was just... a dream?_ He was drenched in sweat and his breaths were rapid. _Is the Truth just messing with me and THIS is the dream?Where am I?_

The room at first glance looked bland, like the many rooms he and Al had stayed in during their journey, but the few pieces of furniture looked comfortable and elegant in a simple way. No hotel he could afford would have any furniture that could be described in any way as 'elegant'. He turned his head to look at a giant fireplace, that had been used recently, that made him feel like he had seen it before. Then the memory hit him. He was in his room.

This was no dream, it is real. He was in the apartment that he shared with Al. The furniture were different things he had transmuted to make his room feel more like _His_ and not just another hotel. Mustang had become Fuhrer a few weeks ago and Ed had gotten a promotion shortly after. If anyone had any problems with the unusually young Colonel no one dared to say anything to his face.

"Ed?" Al's voice came from his doorway, and it sounded heavy as if its owner had just woken up from a deep sleep. "Ed what's wrong?" the grogginess in Al's voice giving way to worry. Ed turned and his residual fears drifted away when he saw the genuine worry on his brother's face. Al had noticed the dread in Ed's face before he could dismiss it. "Are you alright?" Al asked in a calm voice.

The corners of Ed's mouth perked up into a slight smile as he said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Its just..." he trailed off as he wiped the remaining tears from his eyes and tried to think of what to say. "It was just a bad dream. But why are you here?"

"I was going to get a drink of water when I walked past your room and I heard you yell. Can you tell me about it?" Al's voice formed a tentative question.

"Mmm. Morning. My job as a State Alchemist too exhausting on a normal day, let alone with no sleep."

Ed could hear the grimace of sympathy in fellow alchemist Al's voice as he said, "Fair enough."

Al nodded as Ed continued, "And besides, my boss is a total jerk who will kill me if I come in late." Ed relaxed when Al smiled a gentle smile that radiated with warm kindness. Ed settled back down onto his bed as he felt himself starting to go back to sleep, the exhaustion suddenly hitting him. "Night Al."

The last thing that Ed heard before the oblivion of sleep took him was Al's deep, soft chuckle before he said, "Goodnight brother. Sleep well." Al closed the bedroom door with a soft _click_ and walked to his own inviting bed.

* * *

_**After note:** Thanks for reading and I hope you liked It!_


End file.
